You are working on Staging2

Shayna Jack on World Records, Racing Katie Ledecky, & Partnership with Dean Boxall

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman HodgesGarrett McCaffrey, and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

SwimSwam sat down with Shayna Jack, the Australian sprint star who was part of 3 world record relays at the 2023 World Championships and split 51+ in a 100 free more than any other competitor at the meet (4).

Jack discusses what makes the training environment at St. Peters Western under Dean Boxall so electric, the culture Australia has developed in women’s sprinting, and her strategy for racing Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh in the 200 free.

  • 0:00 Shayna Jack Introduction
  • 4:45 Splitting 51.XX Four Times in 8 Days
  • 8:48 Disappointing AUS Trials
  • 11:20 800 Free Relay
  • 17:24 Racing Katie Ledecky & Summer McIntosh
  • 19:45 AUS Women’s Sprinting
  • 24:50 Improving Back End Speed
  • 26:37 St. Peters Western Training
  • 33:24 Secret to Finishing Races
  • 37:23 Training with Brother, Jaime
  • 41:00 Dating a Professional Athlete
  • 44:34 Dean Boxall
  • 48:14 Perspective

SWIMSWAM PODCAST LINKS

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.

In This Story

44
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

44 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Troyy
1 year ago

Fast swim watch: 14 yo Sienna Toohey went 1:08.96 (!) a couple of days ago at school nationals in the 100 breast. That’s #2 all time behind Leisel Jones’s 1:08.30.

SNygans01
Reply to  Troyy
1 year ago

Very impressive. While much attention was on Olympia Pope at the Age Nationals, there were some other swimmers (like Sienna) doing noteworthy 100BR times in that age group, and the one below. Great to see that she has progressed so much in just 3-4 months.

Troyy
Reply to  SNygans01
1 year ago

Yep, there’s a group of them making noise in the 13-15 ages. Four girls in that group have been sub 1:10 this year when it’s been a few years since anyone in that age range did it.

Can’t kick can’t pull
1 year ago

C1 has been doing this elite sprinting jam since before dean boxall was invented

Fukuoka Gold
Reply to  Can’t kick can’t pull
1 year ago

Simon Cusack is also against doing much weight training.

Had Thorpe coached by Bowman, and C1 coached by Bohl they’d have accomplished so much more.

AquaDuck
Reply to  Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

Angel worked out well under Bowman…

LBSWIM
Reply to  AquaDuck
1 year ago

Angel’s attention was elsewhere………

Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

Cate Campbell should have trained with Boxall. Hugely talented, but didn’t get the right coaching.

Similar to Thorpe situation.

Massive talent, meh coaching.

M d e
Reply to  Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

What are you talking about. She held the WR she was developed tremendously.

Also she was already considering retirement before Boxall was a head coach.

Mmm hmmm
Reply to  M d e
1 year ago

Boxall seems to unlock the competitor in his swimmers and trains that into his swimmers. They seem to perform in finals relatively consistently (Winnington maybe less consistent)

zThomas
1 year ago

While I found the interview interesting, it didn’t leave me with a positive impression of Jack. While she out split Ledecky and Summer on the final 50 of the 4 x 200, she didn’t “leave them in the dust,” as she said. I am willing to accept that perhaps I don’t get Australian cheekiness…

bob
Reply to  zThomas
1 year ago

It’s not cheekiness, its vanity.”Left her in the dust”..what a clown.

Verram
Reply to  bob
1 year ago

She was merely explaining her thought process during the race .. what do you expect an athlete to think? Oh no Katie is gonna beat me I should cower and let her pass me ? It’s a competitive race environment not an overtake lane on Route66

SNygans01
Reply to  bob
1 year ago

You guys are not listening properly, or just hearing what you want to hear.
‘Leave them in the dust’ was what she told herself she was striving to do, in that moment.
It wasn’t her assessment of what she actually did to Katie and Summer, after the fact.

Are we going to have US fans denying a swimmer the right to tell themselves (ie. simply think a thought) something that boosts their immediate performance, against an incredibly strong rival?

No-one could listen to that interview and say that Shayna was anything but respectful – and a fan – of KL. Plus she is openly acknowledging she’s not a genuine leading 200 free swimmer.

Laps
Reply to  zThomas
1 year ago

If you trim down the quote it looks much worse than what she said, which was “I’m going to go into the wall hard, turn and leave her in my dust as much as I can.”

The context being that she had swum a controlled race and then sprinted the final 50m which is the opposite of her usual fly and die style. She was talking about how she pulled away in the final moments after Katie had bridged the gap over the first 150 not about dominating the entire race.

Shayna seemed very aware of her splits and her competitors splits so she would know that Katie out split her.

Fukuoka Gold
Reply to  Laps
1 year ago

I swear Swimswam readers prefer swimmers not to offer anything insightful and prefer swimmers to say

“I just tried to do my best”

Verram
Reply to  Fukuoka Gold
1 year ago

No its only relevant for posts about Aussie swimmers.. they try to pick apart everything Aussie swimmers say and micro focus on anything remotely perceived as Anti-American

Mark69
Reply to  zThomas
1 year ago

As other commenters have said below, she said she would try to leave them in the dust as much as she could. And by the end of her swim she was over a second ahead of Katie, after almost being caught by her after about 125 m. So, she did what she was trying to do.

DP Spellman
Reply to  Mark69
1 year ago

I’m a club coach in America and I get what she is saying……and appreciate her competitiveness!

Stam87
1 year ago

They are both evil Russians

rhode
1 year ago

dating an athlete.

Swimm
1 year ago

Can’t give away her secret(drugs)…

Markster
1 year ago

When in good shape it takes both of them around 24 seconds flat to swim a 50m freestyle.

Smglsn12
Reply to  Markster
1 year ago

I really enjoyed this lol

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

Read More »